112 Transactions. 



plantae juvenili, oblonga, obovata, lineari-lanceolata vel lanceolata, ad 

 16 mm. longa sed saepissime minora, inaequaliter pinnatifida, lobata 

 vel. dentata, segmentis magnitudine eaepe dissimilibus integerrimis vel 

 lobatis vel dentatis ; folia in statu plantae adulto lineari-obovata, oblonga 

 vel ovata, ± 6 mm. longa, crassa, coriacea, glabra, atro-viridia, integer- 

 rima, crenata, dentata vel lobata, obtusa. Flores parvi, solitarii, ter- 

 minales ad apicem ramulorum perabreviatorum ; sepala ovata vel ovato- 

 oblonga, 1-75-2 mm. longa, 3-nervosa, pallide viridia, caduca, leve ciliata ; 

 petala lineari-spathulata, apice recurvata, 5 mm. longa, atro-purpurea. 

 fere nigra ; ovarium nonnih.il hirsutum ; eapsula subglobosa, circ. 7 mm. 

 diam., rugosa, apice mucronata ; semina 2-5. 



North Island : Growing in subalpine Nothojagus forest, subalpine scrub, 

 and shrub steppe on the volcanic plateau. South Island : Common in 

 montane and subalpine .scrubs, and to a lesser degree in subalpine forests 

 throughout the Island, irrespective of rainfall. 



P. divarication as defined above was. in the " Handbook of the New 

 Zealand Flora," p. 20, included by Hooker along with another quite distinct 

 plant, common on the dividing range of the North Island, in the conception 

 of the aggregate species P. rigidum. In their descriptions of this latter both 

 Kirk and Cheeeeman have followed Hooker. In 1899 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 vol. 31, p. 363) I called attention to the fact that a specimen of P. rigidum, 

 collected by Mr. D. Petrie on Mount Hikurangi, differed, so far as its leaves 

 were concerned, from the common South Island shrub, but closely resembled 

 the figure of P. rigidum, pi. x, in vol. i of the " Flora Novae-Zelandiae.'" 

 I also suggested that probably the common South Island plant was a distinct 

 species. When on the Tararua Mountains in 1906, in company with Pro- 

 fessor Easterfield, Mr. B. C. Aston, and some others, plenty of P. rigidum 

 of the "Flora Novae-Zelandiae " was encountered, but so different was it 

 in appearance from the South Island shrub that at first I thought we had 

 found something " new." Further study of the two plants led me to give 

 the MS. name of P. divarication to the common South Island form, but until 

 recently I had not sufficient material on which to base a diagnosis. 



I am, then, excluding P. divaricatum from the conception of P. rigidum, 

 so that this latter species, for those who agree with me, will include only 

 the broad-leaved shrub of the North Island dividing range, the volcanic 

 plateau, and the mountains of western Nelson. 



P. rigidum as thus limited differs from P. divaricatum in the following 

 important particulars : — 



1. The branches are not rigid, divaricating, and interlaced, but slender, 

 more or less erect, and branch at a comparatively narrow angle. 



2. The leaves are oblong or obovate, and may reach more than 2-5 cm. 

 in length and 1 cm. in breadth. 



3. A leaf may be occasionally more or less deeply toothed, but such semi- 

 juvenile leaves are an exception, and never abundantly mixed with the 

 adult, as is not infrequently the case in full-grown shrubs of P. divaricatum. 

 Indeed, in a moist forest the actual juvenile form of the latter may be 

 maintained, whereas under identical conditions P. rigidum. remains purely 

 an adult. 



4. Young leaves and young stems of adult P. rigidum are densely covered 

 on both surfaces with almost a tomentum of ferruginous hairs, whereas 

 such a covering is quite absent in the young leaves, &c, of P. divarication . 



5. The flowers appear to be axillary, and not on reduced branchlets 

 as in the case of P. divaricatum. 



